A couple of newbie-ish questions (most warlock-related)

[skunk3]

Hey all, time for another episode of help skunk3!

Question 1: Here's the situation - I have a "50% off" voucher (more or less) for any one item as a reward for defending a city with my party from a devil invasion. If I wanted to spend that 50% off on upgrading my (mithral) buckler, would I only be able to put that towards enhancement bonuses, +X abilities, and flat gold cost abilities of the buckler alone, OR can I also apply that discount voucher to all of the previously mentioned stuff AS WELL AS adding mithral spikes to the buckler, as well as +X abilities and flat gold cost abilities to the spikes? Basically what I am getting at is would you rule that the buckler and the spikes are separate items, or would the buckler and spikes effectively all be a part of the same item, so I could enhance both at the same time as I see fit to take advantage of my one-time-only 50% off deal? At the moment I'm not even considering doing this, but I just wanna know what people think about it. (My DM approved me buying a Starmantle Cloak, so I'm for sure gonna get that unless something else comes to mind.)

Question 2: I don't understand how epic levels work. Take my build for example: By the time I am level 20, I will be warlock 3 / cleric 3 / eldritch disiciple 10 / hellfire ("heavensfire" - flavor changed a bit to match my character) warlock 3 / then one more level of either warlock, cleric, or perhaps enlightened spirit. The exact progression and choice of classes is not important here. What I want to know is how leveling works beyond level 20. If I wanted to continue gaining divine spellcasting and took a level of cleric at 21, would I then basically gain the level-based benefits of a cleric of my effective level, or does epic work differently? I guess what I am getting at is does leveling up work as normal in epic levels until you hit a total of 20 levels in whatever base class? Does this make sense? Say I choose cleric for my 20th level, and at 21 I choose cleric again. That would be 14 effective levels of cleric in total. 3 starting out, 9 from eldritch disciple, 1 at 20, 1 at 21. If I continued along this path would my spellcasting continue to increase until I hit 20 effective levels of cleric? What happens if I wanted to take a cleric level beyond that? What would I gain?


Question 3: Is it possible to gain templates at any time, or is it something that is done at character creation? Say I wanted to work towards sainthood, or becoming half-celestial. Is this possible? (My character is wholly good.)

Question 4: Aside from the epic warlock feat that allows it, and aside from quicken SLA, is there any way to be able to shoot more than one eldritch blast per round? From what I understand, a warlock is limited to one blast per round barring those abilities, which seems stupid to me. Even a 20th level warlock can only blast once? What gives?

Question 5: When it comes to the epic warlock feats "lord of all essences" and "eldritch sculptor" does the warlock need to inherently know these required invocations, or would having access to some of them via rods of eldritch power count? The reason why I ask is because warlock invocations are quite limited already unless you spend every feat on "extra invocation" and even then qualifying for some of these epic warlock feats means taking invocations that suck, and qualifying for more than one of these epic feats becomes even harder due to the prerequisites. To me it seems like the average warlock would have a very hard time qualifying for mutiple epic warlock feats unless the character was very high level and spent a LOT of feats on "extra invocation."

Question 6: Strength is one of my dump stats. I've seen people stating that STR is important for eldritch glaive. Why is this... just for a to-hit bonus? Is there anything I am missing? I do not currently have eldritch glaive as an invocation but I am hoping that eventually I can come across a Codex Advocare (or several) either for sale or as loot as time goes on. Would me having no STR bonus (ability score is 10) significantly impede my ability to be effective with the glaive? Seems to me that being able to enlarge myself and use the glaive for iterative attacks and lots of reach would be super useful, but not if I can't hit anything. Thoughts on this?

Question 7: A question about the Starmantle Cloak - As I have already stated, my DM said that he will allow me to buy the Starmantle Cloak, but said that if I am attacked by a magical weapon and make my reflex save, ONLY the physical damage is halved... not the total damage. Personally, I don't have a problem with that even though I think all of the damage should be halved. My question is this though: If I buy a ring of evasion, would that work with the Starmantle Cloak? To me, the answer is clearly yes. I know that my DM would likely shoot me a death glare if I brought this up though... making a DC 15 reflex save should be extremely easy by that point, so it'd basically make me immune to weapon attacks, at least the physical portion of them. I think that I should bring this up with my DM before I purchase the cloak.

[Bronk]

Q1: It's up to your DM how he wants to use his voucher, but when you upgrade lots of things at once, it's still one purchase, so you would think so.

Q2: At Character Level 21, you stop getting BAB and save bonuses, instead you get epic attack bonuses and epic save bonuses, per the chart that can be found in the SRD. You can also use your 'once every three level' general feat to take epic feats that you meet the prerequisites for. You do get everything else the class would otherwise give you though.

So, if you took another level in cleric at L21, you'd gain spellcasting levels and spells known, and get +1 epic attack bonus, and could use your general feat to take an epic feat. However, although you'd be an epic level character, you would still only be a non-epic cleric, and so if you took another few cleric levels, you still wouldn't be able to take the L23 epic bonus feat a straight cleric would get.

Q3: Some templates can be gained later, most not. Saint definitely can, but I can't think of a way to get half celestial right off, since it's an inherited template (although you can talk to your DM about working something out, maybe with a wish, or a ritual from Savage Species).

Q4: I think that's why you'd take Eldritch Glaive, for the multiple hits.

Q5: It usually doesn't matter how you qualify for something, although if you lose the item, you'll lose the feat you needed it as a prereq for until you get it back.

Q6: Probably for the bonuses.

Q7: I don't think it would work. The way it's written, the attack has to 'normally' deal half damage on a successful save.

[KillianHawkeye]

Regarding shield spikes, two things: A) You can't just put spikes on a shield. It has to be made that way. B) You can't put shield spikes on bucklers or tower shields (probably because you can't use those types of shields for shield bashing, either).

If you were to ask the same question, except it was about a light or heavy shield, and it was about purchasing a new one instead of upgrading it, I would say that your voucher probably covers the entire item including the spikes (which only count as a separate item for the purposes of enchanting and related costs).


Besides that, I pretty much agree with Bronk's answers.

[skunk3]

About the Starmantle Cloak + Ring of Evasion:

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Evasion_and_Improved_Evasion

These extraordinary abilities allow the target of an area attack to leap or twist out of the way. Rogues and monks have evasion and improved evasion as class features, but certain other creatures have these abilities, too.

"If subjected to an attack that allows a Reflex save for half damage, a character with evasion takes no damage on a successful save.

As with a Reflex save for any creature, a character must have room to move in order to evade. A bound character or one squeezing through an area cannot use evasion.

As with a Reflex save for any creature, evasion is a reflexive ability. The character need not know that the attack is coming to use evasion.

Rogues and monks cannot use evasion in medium or heavy armor. Some creatures with the evasion ability as an innate quality do not have this limitation."

Where I am curious is the second line. Does the attack by its very nature need to allow me to roll a reflex save for half damage, like a fireball for example, or does it apply to any attack that I can make a reflex save for? The Starmantle Cloak allows me to make a reflex save for half damage any time I am struck with a magical manufactured weapon. Personally I don't see why the cloak and the ring wouldn't work together. Normally we can't roll reflex saves to take half damage from melee attacks, but with the cloak I would be able to, which leads me to believe that the ring of evasion would synergize with it. Cheesy and OP? Sure... but legit? I think so.

Thanks for all of the answers, guys!

[Bronk]

Regarding shield spikes, two things: A) You can't just put spikes on a shield. It has to be made that way. B) You can't put shield spikes on bucklers or tower shields (probably because you can't use those types of shields for shield bashing, either).

If you were to ask the same question, except it was about a light or heavy shield, and it was about purchasing a new one instead of upgrading it, I would say that your voucher probably covers the entire item including the spikes (which only count as a separate item for the purposes of enchanting and related costs).


Besides that, I pretty much agree with Bronk's answers.

Good catch!


About the Starmantle Cloak + Ring of Evasion:

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Evasion_and_Improved_Evasion

These extraordinary abilities allow the target of an area attack to leap or twist out of the way. Rogues and monks have evasion and improved evasion as class features, but certain other creatures have these abilities, too.

"If subjected to an attack that allows a Reflex save for half damage, a character with evasion takes no damage on a successful save.

As with a Reflex save for any creature, a character must have room to move in order to evade. A bound character or one squeezing through an area cannot use evasion.

As with a Reflex save for any creature, evasion is a reflexive ability. The character need not know that the attack is coming to use evasion.

Rogues and monks cannot use evasion in medium or heavy armor. Some creatures with the evasion ability as an innate quality do not have this limitation."

Where I am curious is the second line. Does the attack by its very nature need to allow me to roll a reflex save for half damage, like a fireball for example, or does it apply to any attack that I can make a reflex save for? The Starmantle Cloak allows me to make a reflex save for half damage any time I am struck with a magical manufactured weapon. Personally I don't see why the cloak and the ring wouldn't work together. Normally we can't roll reflex saves to take half damage from melee attacks, but with the cloak I would be able to, which leads me to believe that the ring of evasion would synergize with it. Cheesy and OP? Sure... but legit? I think so.

Thanks for all of the answers, guys!

So, about the Starmantle Cloak and the Ring of Evasion, after looking back at the actual ring description instead of a more generic evasion description, I think it should work. The ring description just says, "Whenever she makes a Reflex saving throw to determine whether she takes half damage, a successful save results in no damage." That meshes with the cloak description perfectly, without any mention of what the attack would normally do.

I would say that your DM's interpretation of what happens to damage from a magical weapon is inaccurate though. All the damage from an attack from a magic weapon is halved, there isn't any part of it that isn't halved. That's the whole point of the item! But, considering the power of the item itself, I guess you're lucky to have it at all, really.

[skunk3]

Good catch!



So, about the Starmantle Cloak and the Ring of Evasion, after looking back at the actual ring description instead of a more generic evasion description, I think it should work. The ring description just says, "Whenever she makes a Reflex saving throw to determine whether she takes half damage, a successful save results in no damage." That meshes with the cloak description perfectly, without any mention of what the attack would normally do.

I would say that your DM's interpretation of what happens to damage from a magical weapon is inaccurate though. All the damage from an attack from a magic weapon is halved, there isn't any part of it that isn't halved. That's the whole point of the item! But, considering the power of the item itself, I guess you're lucky to have it at all, really.

I agree. I feel that all of the damage should be halved, not just the physical portion. That said, I know a lot of people take a dim view of the cloak, and lots of other things from the Book of Exalted Deeds.